Leslie Berliant's Climate Chronicles

The California Air Resources Board (CARB), chaired by Mary Nichols, voted Thursday to adopt a blueprint plan to reduce carbon emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, constituting a 30% reduction below projected business-as-usual levels. It is the first step in strategic implementation of California's landmark 2006 law, the Global Warming Solutions Act

The Associated Press reports: 

The plan adopted Thursday by the state Air Resources Board is the most comprehensive roadmap to date to cut the amount of heat-trapping emissions in the United States. It outlines for the first time how individuals and businesses will meet a landmark 2006 law that made California a leader on global climate change.

On the commodity spot market, you can buy a ton of Powder River Basin coal for $14.50. For $1740 you can get a 120-ton boxcar full. Top of the line coal from Appalachia, richer in BTUs, sells for much more: $111 a ton, or $13,320 a boxcar. In either case, though, the price does not reflect the true cost of coal.

Thanks to a report released by Greenpeace and the Dutch institute CE Delft (The True Cost of Coal), it becomes clear that when it comes to coal, there are no bargains. The report reveals and quantifies the true costs that have been left out of the cheap prices. It estimates -- conservatively -- that the damage caused by coal’s mining accidents, its global carbon dioxide emissions, and the illnesses it causes adds $451 billion in annual costs to the simple buying price.

That's not all. Not included in that dollar amount are damage estimates for acid mine drainage, mercury pollution or ground water contamination because reliable global estimates for the cost of these occurrences do not currently exist. The cost of CO2 used in the analysis was based on the current emission prevention costs under the European Union's Emission Trading Scheme - 20 Euros per tonne – a number that is expected to increase dramatically in coming years.